About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

How High Can You Get? The Highlands “Classic Malt”

Diageo sure knows marketing, and the six “Classic Malts” were meant to display the six whisky making regions of Scotland and to draw visitors, and awareness, for the distilleries. However, Diageo lacks a presence in Campbeltown, so Oban – a Western coastal Highlands distillery 140 km (86 miles) away- got the nod to represent “the sixth region”. For its highland malt, Diageo chose Dalwhinnie, one must suspect for its strategic location aside the highway from Perth to Inverness as much as for its intrinsic qualities as a malt.

Photo Credit: bottleworld.de

Nevertheless, the brand is the sixth overall best seller in the Diageo single malts portfolio (outperformed by Cardhu, Talisker, Lagavulin, Singleton of Glen Ord and Singleton of Dufftown), but plays an important role as the signature malt for the Buchanan’s blend, selling about 20 million bottles annually, the number three best selling scotch in the Diageo portfolio, after Johnny Walker and J&B.

The distillery style is very full bodied and rather sulfuric achieved through the use of straight onion shaped stills and a rapid cooling system, designed to lower copper contact to a minimum. This also explains why it’s bottled at 15 years, and not sooner. I have reviewed a 12 year old Mortlach, and commented on the missing years of maturation, and I assume a young Dalwhinnie would pull the same reactions from drinkers.

One curiosity about Dalwhinnie is that it’s the second highest distillery in Scotland and one of the coldest in the whole of the UK, clocking in at 327 meters (almost 1100 feet), second only to Braeval. Besides being a distillery, it also serves as an official weather station, the distillery manager is required to take readings from the station and pass them on the Met officials. I’d recommend doing that before venturing into the warehouse 🙂